Summer is moving along, and it won’t be that far in the future when the kids head back to school and the leaves begin to change. In the spring we all make plans for what we will accomplish while the weather is good, and hopefully we can take time off from our busy schedules for fun and for family time. For myself it means a week in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina with my family. I myself am not a beach person but my wife Carol is and could spend every waking moment watching the tide come in and spending time in the water. She heads down as soon as the school district she works for in Pennsylvania breaks for the summer. Several years ago, and to be honest, over my objections, we purchased a place in Myrtle Beach and Carol likes to be there as long as possible. This summer she stayed for five weeks. In the nine days I was there I got to spend time with my wife and all of my children. It was exciting being there with my son Michael, his wife and our first and as of this time only grandchild Seamus, along with my other two sons David and Patrick and their fiancées. Each one was there at one time or another during my stay. The weather was beautiful, the people friendly and the beer was cold. It is healthy for both the body and the mind, to at times simply relax and forgot the problems and concerns we deal with on a day to day basis.

Coming back to work after the break is never easy but it is necessary. We continue to work to educate the industry and the end users on the importance of cross-connection control and backflow prevention. In a time of deregulation, we must work harder to ensure the gains we have make in the past are not lost in the rush to simply gut programs aimed at protecting our environment and our precious water supply. In many ways, the good old days were not good days for the environment. The all or nothing approach we see in the current political situation happening all around our nation should make all of us pause and think of the path we seem to be headed on. I teach cross-connection classes in many locations throughout the United States and every now and again outside our borders. Many of the people are just beginning their careers in cross-connection control as an extension of the work they are doing in the plumbing, water, mechanical, or irrigation industry. Interacting with them at an early stage in the education process means that I have a responsibility to make sure we do everything right and that we work to instill in them the passion required to carry forward with the important work we do to protect the water supply. It is important that we start people out right and make sure they understand the importance of what we are training them to become. As testers or specialists, they are our ambassadors to the public. They are on the front line interacting with consumers and business owners as they survey facilities or perform testing on backflow assemblies. The impression they give the individuals they come in contact with is a critical point in reaching out and educating those outside our industry on the importance of backflow protection and cross connection control.

The questions business owners and consumers ask backflow testers and specialists and the answers they provide are an opportunity to explain to these people why cross-connection control is important and how important the installation and testing of backflow prevention is. The first impressions are always the most important. When asked by a business owner why the backflow assembly is required, we need to provide a valid reasonable answer, and the industry need to speak in a common voice on these questions. How would you reply to that question? I thought about how important the response to this question is while I was sitting on the beach in South Carolina. How often does this simple question and the wrong answer to it hurt our industry and the work we are doing trying to protect the water supply. I know what you should not say. An answer of “because the code or the water company requires it” while possibly being correct is not helpful in this situation. Not having a response ready for this question is also a major issue. This is why it is important when we train individuals, we spend time on the history of cross-connection control, and the reasons we install, test, and maintain this protection. We need to also teach ethical practices and provide the people we train with knowledge they need to understand all parts of cross-connection control and backflow prevention. It is far more than simply learning a test procedure.

So, I will ask our readers to let me know how you would answer the question: Why do I need to have backflow prevention installed, tested, and maintained in my facility? Please e-mail me your answer at sean.cleary@iapmo.org or leave it in our comment section. We will look at the responses in our next issue of Backflow Prevention Journal.

About the Author

Sean is a 40 year member of the United Association Local 524 Scranton Pa. He has worked in all phases of the plumbing and mechanical industry and is a licensed master plumber. Sean is a Past President of the American Society of Sanitary Engineering. Sean is also the member of the ASSE Cross-Connection Control, Technical Committee. Sean is employed by IAPMO as the Vice President of Operations for the IAPMO Backflow Prevention Institute.